Amazing Arunachal -1

Dibrugarh-Pasighat-Yingkiong

Landed at Dibrugarh and headed straight to the ferry ghat.  Was told the last ferry left at 4:15pm and just as I landed there in the nick of time, figured I was at the wrong ghat (BogiBeel) and the ferry's didn't go to Pasighat directly and wouldn't find a place to stay where the ferry was headed.  With no other way out, headed back to town to find a place for the night. Woke up early and took the ferry from Mazin Ghat, filled with passengers, vehicles, live stock and anything one can imagine to Pasighat and then onto a share jeep. Pasighat  ,is a small little town surrounded by hills and a few scattered settlements. With 4hrs to kill before the bus to Yingkiong , I grabbed some food and dumped my backpack in the same restaurant and walked around town.

After tea, I walked upto the bus station to find an ancient rickety old bus waiting that was christened "Yingkiong Queen " . A distance of 180kms takes close to 12hrs on these long ,winding and almost non-existent roads. The bus soon got packed and we hit the road. The bus had a young helper babu ,barely in his teens who was continuously on the go -lifting goods, helping with directions as the bus had to go over some tough hair pin bends and always had a smile on his face. Life for him seemed so simple and easy !




The weather outside became cold and windy and then it started to rain and with window panes missing one just had to brace it all ! Some inquisitive passengers started talking to me and were surprised to find a lone woman traveller and thought i was writing a book or into research. Initially I tried explaining what I do but soon took over the role of a researcher since that's what most understood :). Some told me about what places I could visit etc. Mobile revolution seemed to have taken over the mountains. Everybody seemed to have a mobile and took turns to play music on the speaker phones. After a stop for dinner at the only existent roadside dhaba late night the bus proceeded on its arduous journey , after midnight and because of rains , there was a small landslide(road had caved in a bit), that babu and the driver cleared before chugging along. After few hours the bus came to a screeching halt around 2am and was told the bus had run out of fuel and there would be no vehicles passing the way till morning and all of us (just 3 more passengers remaining) had no other option to but to remain in the bus with heavy rains outside . Knowing there was nothing one could do, I just stretched out and slept in the bus next few hours , stranded up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere..I was woken upto some loud voices of the only 3 remaining passengers as they had heard a bus approaching. We slowly pulled ourselves and the luggage up and ran to the vehicle in the rain. Than I saw babu, the young helper boy still out in the rain with a jerrycan trying to search for fuel.

Found the first hotel in town in the rain and after a bit of rest and maggi (only available eatable) , borrowed an umbrella and walked out of town upto the Gandhi Hanging Bridge. A scenic 5-6kms walk across fields and misty mountains in the cloud. The flaky hanging bridge on the blue sian river was quite a site.
I started walking back to town and about a km away, a biker stopped by (hardly any soul on the road till then) and said he could drop me back . Once back in town I took an auto to the other hanging bridge(Nubo) around (17kms) away . It was a nice ride in the auto while it poured. The auto driver was from Along and picked up some interesting information about Along and places around.

Once back, I heard a knock on my door to find Omim, a co traveller from my previous nights journey. She had come searching for me knowing I was travelling all by myself. She was visiting her sister in Yingkiong and she said I should go over to their house. Spent the evening talking to the folks there and then she waked with me all the way back at the hotel.

The next day was spent walking around misty town surrounded my mountains ,meeting school kids .I had to decide where to head out next -- Tuting or Along. Tuting was a 12-16hrs journey whereas Along was a 6hrs journey. I finally decided on Along ! I picked up the Sumo tickets for next morning. When I was walking towards the town center next day, there came Omim again to see me off.

Yingkiong-Along
The jeep ride to Along passes through beautiful mountains and rivers. There were a few passengers , again inquisitive at seeing me travel and marveling at my courage the driver spoke a lot about the local customs and played some great hindi oldies - Kishore kumar  as we covered the 116 odd kms. He dropped me at a nice little hotel at Along and gave me his mobile number and even volunteered to give me his mobile SIM just incase I needed it. I thanked him and said no I wouldn't be needing it .

Along seemed like a town in transition and lot more traffic as compared to the quaint little Yingkiong. I dumped by backpack and walked to the DC's office to see if they could attest my inner line permit for Tawang as well! But after waiting for sometime and the DC missing I just headed out to walk around town. Next morning was the first sunny day of my trip and took a bus to the nearby Pobdi village and then walked around Pobdi and Paia and all the way back to Along. These settlements have unique cane huts that are mostly on stilts and are built without a single nail or metal in place. The villagers seemed quite modern and some even had satellite dishes. However most men do carry a huge knife and a neat flat backpack made out of cane.

Next destination was Menchuka.. There are only alternate day buses to Menchuka and hence had to buy a jeep ticket for next morning.

and ahead